Leaving
by cwerner
Summary: Dr. Brennan gets a new job in California. It tears her old world apart. She makes a new life, but will that also be torn apart when she comes back to visit the Jeffersonian two years later? READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and if I did, things would be A LOT more interesting! 

Authors Note: Ok guys, so the idea for this fanfic has been rolling around in my head for quite a while now. I just finally said to myself that I had to get it down on paper, because it was driving me nuts! Here are a few things that you guys need to know before you start reading this fic - Temperance and Booth hooked up (especially in my head) about 4 weeks prior to where this story starts, and it just makes situations kind of awkard for them,because it ends up being something that they never really say anything about to each other. It was just a heat of the moment kind of thing, they weren't in a relationship, although they are good friends. I know to a lot of you, right now it might not seem like a Booth/Bones fic, but keep in mind, IT IS! I have some VERY interesting things coming up in the future of this story that I think you'll want to see! (Or read) haha. Ok... off you go! Sorry for any typo's!

* * *

What should I do? Temperance thought looking down at the document in her hand. She loved working at the Jeffersonian, it was so great. But the offer of a job at Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences was too great to turn down. Three hundred thousand plus a year, and all fees paid for new lab equipment and better resources, had Dr. Brennan stuck in the middle of the biggest decision of her life. I want to stay, she thought. All my friends are here, and Booth. Oh boy, Booth. Things had been so complicated between them since their sexual encounter 4 weeks ago. They'd barely said anything to each other, and their relationship was quite strained, but Brennan thought that in a way, it had brought them much closer. Maybe it'll be good if I go, she thought. I could put Booth out of his misery of having to see me everyday. And it IS such a good deal. I would be a moron to turn it down. She set the paper down on her desk, and got up to go talk to Dr. Goodman about her life changing decision.

* * *

"Well Temperance, this does come as quite a surprise," Dr. Goodman said as he sat looking at his 'former' Forensic Anthropologist, who had just announced her all to sudden change in locations. "I didn't know that you were even looking to relocate yourself. If you were unhappy here, you could have just mentioned it."

"Oh, no," Temperance says quickly, "I'm not unhappy here at all. This is just an opportunity that I don't think I can miss if I want to better myself as an Anthropologist."

"I understand. No hard feelings," Goodman says giving a slight laugh, while trying to hide the fact that he really is sad to see his best employee leaving.

"I know," Temperance says putting on a sad face. "I feel so bad that I'm letting you know this on such short notice, but the job starts in 2 weeks, and I still need time to pack and get ready. I haven't even found a place to live yet!"

"Well if you ever need help with anything at all Temperance, feel free to give us a call here. You know you'll always be welcome."

"Thank you so much. I'll definitely keep in touch. You'll have to let me know how things are going here! I might even drop by every once in a while," she says giving a sly smile.

"You better," Goodman says laughing.

"Just don't hire anyone as good as me, because I might want to come back if this doesn't work out," Temperance says giving a grin.

"We'd welcome you back with open arms, and I don't think we'll ever find anyone quite as good as you Temperance," he says while getting up to give her a hug. "It's been a pleasure working with you and getting to know you. You truly are a wonderful young woman."

"Thank you so much," Temperance says openly welcoming his hug. "I'll see you soon."

"I hope so. Have a nice time," he says as he watches her walk out the door.

"Bye," Temperance says, the tears slowly starting to creep up into her eyes.

"Good bye Temperance," Goodman says.

* * *

"No Temp!" Angela says in a high- pitched voice. " You ARE NOT leaving me!"

"Angela, I've already accepted the job, and I really think it's something that's going to be good for me. Please, you have to understand," Temperance says, starting to plead with her best friend, who refuses to register the fact that it's really happening, that Temperance is really leaving.

"No!" she says as tears start streaming down her face. 'You're the only reason I've stayed at this job. If you leave, I'm going to quit"

"No, you're not Angela. You're stronger than that. I know that you can do this. You can do anything," Brennan says reassuringly.

"Why do you have to go?" Angela asks, still in tears.

"I just don't think I can miss this. If I do, I think it's something that I'll regret for the rest of my life. You only live once, you have to take chances. Maybe it will work out, maybe it won't. Either way, I still have to take this opportunity. And I'm sorry Ange, but nothing is going to change my mind."

"What about Booth?" Angela asks candidly.

"Nothing about Booth. I don't want to talk about that," Brennan says turning her head away from Angela starting to get angry. "Look, today is my last day. I start in 2 weeks, and it's going to take me a while to pack everything and get ready, and find a place in California. Can we please just spend the day in peace, enjoying hanging out?"

"Ok," Angela says reluctantly wiping the tears away with the back of her hand. She'd tried, and she'd failed. Brennan was leaving no matter what she said. She might as well enjoy these last two weeks with her.

* * *

"Hey Bones!" Booth says bounding up the stairs later on that day. "I got a new case for us."

"I can't work on it," Temperance says starting to walk away from him with no other comment.

"What, no explanation Bones?" he asks curiously.

"There's no explanation Booth, I just can't work on it."

"Why not?" he asks.

"Look Booth, can I talk to you in my office?" she asks him quietly.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" he asks her with sense of dread, hearing the conviction in her voice.

"Just follow me," she says.

They walk into her office, and Brennan takes a seat at her desk, while Booth grabs a chair and pulls it up next to her. She glances up at him, but then looks back down at her hands. How is she supposed to say this to him?

"Look Seeley, I really don't know how to say this."

"Say what," he asks her.

"I've been offered another job at a University in California."

"Yeah, so…" Booth asks wondering why she's telling him this.

"I took the job," Temperance blurts out before he has a chance to say anything else.

"You what!" Booth asks loudly. He just stares at her, wondering if he heard her right. "You took the job? Are you crazy!"

"What do you mean, 'Am I crazy'," she asks him, defending herself.

"Why would you take another job? You have a job already!"

"I know! I just couldn't turn it down. It was too good of an offer," she says starting to get upset.

"Well OK then," Booth says standing up and starting to head towards the door. "What, were you just going to leave without even saying goodbye?"

"That's what I'm doing now!" Temperance practically yelled at him.

"Yeah, whatever," Booth says exiting her office.

"Booth, please, I don't want to leave like this!" Temperance pleaded with him, following close behind.

"Yeah well, you're leaving anyway," Booth said menacingly turning around to face her. He stormed off, and that was the last image she had of Booth in her head when she left for California two weeks later.

* * *

Ok, so now is where you hit the review button, and tell me if this story really sucks, or if I should keep going! You know you want to. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything... what a shame.

Authors Note: Thanks so much for the reviews guys! I really appreciate it! I'm glad that it was postive feedback as well! I have a few differnt ideas as to where this story might go... and I'm not quite sure at the moment, but I think I have a pretty good idea of how it will end. Anywho... just to address a few things from the reviews:

**WOATCAPIITON: **You talked about how their feelings and the whole sex thing wasn't described and resolvedvery well. Well, there is a reason I didn't actually put that in the story. While (I guess) it does play a big part in their relationship, it's not something that's going to be a huge deal when she goes back and finally sees him.

**goldpiece:** You had some good ideas, I might have to think about that... :)

Ok so, once again, I know that at the time, it probably doesn't seem much like a B/B fic, but trust me, it is! And off we go...

* * *

"Hey baby, will you come here for a minute?"

"Yeah, hold on!" Temperance called back to him, running around, throwing clothes carelessly across the room, trying to find the dress she was looking for.

"Hurry up, I want to show you this!" he commented.

"What?" Temperance said looking flustered as she left the bedroom to join him in the living room.

"They're selling those oriental rugs you wanted on TV right now," he said looking at her.

"So?" she responded back, looking at him like he was crazy.

"So… I just thought you'd want to know," he said looking a little hurt by the anger that was starting to appear on her face.

"Ok well sorry, but our reservations are in 20 minutes, and I know we're not going to make it there on time. Look at me, I look like shit!" she commented, more to herself than to the man standing 20 feet across from her.

"You look fine sweetie! Look, there is a reason I didn't tell you where we are going. It's because I don't want you wasting time getting all dressed up. Besides, it'll just be coming off later anyway…" he said with a smirk on his face.

"Keep dreaming," Temperance said while smiling back at him coyly.

"Look, just throw on some jeans, and a t-shirt," he told her. "I promise, it's not anything fancy. There probably won't even be anyone there."

"Wait, what?" she asked, suddenly very confused.

"Just GO!" he pointed to the bedroom.

"Ok, I'm going," she said blithely, leaving the room with a smile plastered across her face.

As she was picking her favorite pair of jeans up from off of the floor, she happened to glance at the picture of her and Angela that she had sitting on her nightstand. "I miss you Ange," she said sadly.

Ever since moving out to California, Angela had come to visit Temperance for one week, every three months. But since the very beginning of the year, the Jeffersonian had been bombarded with work, and Temperance hadn't been able to see her best friend in six months. They talked on the phone, but not as much as she would have liked. But that was soon going to change, because after tonight, she was leaving to go visit Washington DC in 3 days. She couldn't wait to see everybody, and catch up with how things were going there. It had been ages, it felt like, and it had – just a little over two years now, since she'd last been there.

"Let's go," Temperance said grabbing her purse off the shelf, and locking the door behind her.

* * *

"Ok where are you taking me?" Temperance pleaded with the man sitting next to her.

"You'll see, we're almost there," he said nonchalantly staring straight ahead.

About 10 minutes later, they pulled up to the state park, and Chad paid the man at the gate.

"Ok, baby…" Temperance started to say.

"Yes…" he commented after her.

"We're at the beach."

"I'm aware of that," he said back to her.

"But I thought we had reservations," she asked, looking around.

"Well, I lied," he said starting to laugh.

"You lied to me!" Temperance said jokingly. "How dare you lie to me!"

"It was all part of the game plan, baby," he said laughing right along with her. When he found a parking spot, he pulled over, and turned the ignition off. He grabbed her hand and kissed it, then got out, and went to open her door on the other side. When she was out of the car, she stood there looking at him, waiting for the next direction.

"So, now what?" she asked him.

"Now, we eat," he said going to the back of the jeep and pulling out a box, that Temperance guessed had food in it. They walked about 50 yards down the beach from where they had parked, and sat down in the sand. The sun was starting to sink below the clouds, and he had been right, there was not a person in sight.

"Aww, you didn't have to do this," Temperance said, squeezing his arm, when she looked at all the food in the box, that he had obviously spent all day slaving over for her.

"It was my pleasure," he said to her, starting to take things out one by one, and place them on the blanket they had brought. "I wanted tonight to be special."

"Well it is," she said to him, leaning over and planting a kiss on his lips. "Thank you so much."

"You're very welcome," he said back to her. So while they were eating and chatting, Chad kept trying to think of positive things to bring up about their relationship, that would help take his mind of the question that he was going to ask her at the end of the night. He kept saying how good they were together, how much fun they always had, and their interest in the exact same things in life. Temperance agreed him them every time. So at the end of the night, he felt confident with what the answer would be.

"Temperance, I have something really important to ask you," he started to say.

"Yes," she said back, with a gleam in her eye.

"I love you, so much, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I do know that, and I love you too, by the way…" she also added to her statement.

"Good," he said. "I've been thinking about this for a long time now, and I really believe that it's the right time, and that you're the right person."

"Ok…" Brennan said, her nerves on edge, by all the secrecy.

"Will you, Temperance Brennan, make me the happiest man alive, and do me the honor, of being my wife?" he said to her, pulling out a ring from his pocket.

"Oh my god!" Temperance nearly shouted, as the tears started streaming down her eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious, baby. I want to be with you, forever and always," he said, starting his own line of waterworks. "So what do you say?"

"What can I say?" she says laughing and crying all at the same time. "YES, yes, I'll marry you, Chad Degium!"

The laughing and crying continues for the rest of the night, as the two celebrate this new joy in life, with champagne – and lots of it. Temperance calls all of her local friends, and breaks the news to them, about how excited she is that she's found such a wonderful man to be with. She feels like it's the happiest day of her life, and it should be, right? But why, later on that night, does a sudden pang of anger and sadness overwhelm her, when she and Chad are making love, and right before she reaches ecstasy, a picture of Booth flashes through her mind…

* * *

Now would probably be a good time to review... 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Nothing's mine. Nothing is EVER mine.

Authors Note: Thanks for the reviews guys! I got a lot of critiques this time though. That's good though - I like any kinds of reviews! A lot of people said that the last chapter didn't really sound like Temperance. I realized that too, but you have to understand that it's 2 years later, she's in a new enviornment, with new friends, and she has just changed a lot. You can't expect someone to beexactly thesame person they were two years ago, it's just not possible, so I kind of did it on purpose:) As you will see, Booth has even changed some in this chapter... Ok, I also just want to tell you guys that I won't be updating at all this weekend because I'm going to my dad's, and he doesn't have a computer. So I left you with a long one to ponder... Sorry for any typo's! I seem to type this story in a blind rage. haha.

PS. Also, I did as someone suggested, and changed it so that anonymoususers can review as well! I didn't even realize I had it set like that! Thanks for telling me! Now everyone can review!_

* * *

__The laughing and crying continues for the rest of the night, as the two celebrate this new joy in life, with champagne – and lots of it. Temperance calls all of her local friends, and breaks the news to them, about how excited she is that she's found such a wonderful man to be with. She feels like it's the happiest day of her life, and it should be, right? But why, later on that night, does a sudden pang of anger and sadness overwhelm her, when she and Chad are making love, and right before she reaches ecstasy, a picture of Booth flashes through her mind…_

* * *

At just the same time, on just the same day, 2000 miles across the country, Angela walked up a gave Booth a hug.

"Happy Birthday sweetie," she said to him, giving him a pat on the back, along with the hug.

"Thanks Ange," he replied back smiling. "I feel like I'm getting so old."

"Well honey, we all are," Angela said back to him feeling bad at the obvious depressed state that seemed to hang over Booth. "So, are you and Olivia going to do anything tonight," she asked curiously.

"No, she has to work. You know her, always business before pleasure," he added.

"Well that sucks," she commented back to him.

"Yep," Booth said slowly walking away and retreating down the stairs.

* * *

Three days after getting engaged, Temperance sat playing with the ring on her finger, sitting in the comfortable chair in first class. She was ecstatic. She found a man who she truly cared about, and now she was going back to the Jeffersonian to visit all her friends! No one knew about it, not even Goodman, so it would definitely come as a big surprise to all of them. She couldn't wait to see the look on their faces when she showed up, completely unexpected. 

"We're getting ready to land momentarily," the flight attendant announced, shaking Temperance out of her little coma. "Please fasten your seatbelts." Temperance did so, and grabbed the arms of her chair as well. She had never told anybody before, but she really hated flying.

When the plane landed, Temperance slowly pushed her way through the crowd of people gathering with their loved ones, or business partners, and made her way to the luggage claim belt. When she saw her bag go by, she grabbed it, and headed out the door to call a taxi.

She had the taxi take her to a hotel nearby, where she got a room for 10 nights. She couldn't believe that her boss was letting her stay this long. Three of the days had to be used for business, she had some papers that needed to be signed, and some ends to be tied up while she was here in DC, but the other 7 days were strictly for vacation, or what Temperance could imagine was vacation, seeing as she had never really had one before. All she wanted to do was hang out with Angela, and get to know the new employees working at the Jeffersonian. She also of course wanted to catch up with Zach and Hodgins, she hadn't talked to them in ages! As well as… Booth. She didn't know what to think about seeing Booth again for the first time in 2 years. The way she left had been so dramatic, and she knew that it had caused some serious damage to their friendship. Over the course of the two years she had been away, she had written Booth 4 letters – 2 each year, and all had gone unanswered. She recalled the last letter she had written him…

_ Seeley-_

_How are you? It's getting me really worried that I haven't heard_

_back from you yet. Three letters and nothing…maybe they just_

_got lost, but they were never returned to my address. I feel so bad_

_about the way things ended between us. I never wanted to hurt you,_

_or make you feel bad. You know that, right? I've been thinking a lot about_

_when we "got together". Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, because I feel_

_like you resented me afterwards. Anyway, I hope things are going well for you. _

_Everything is still fine out here. Say hi to Parker for me. Take care._

_Love, Temperance _

It mad her sad that their friendship had pretty much dwindled down to nothing since she had left. They hadn't spoken one word to each other after the hateful good byes.

* * *

After unpacking, and changing into a better outfit –which consisted of blue jean capri's, and a turquoise tank top, she grabbed the keys to the car she was renting, and headed over to the Jeffersonian. She pulled into a parking spot, and just sat there looking for at least 5 minutes. After two years, nothing had changed about this place. It still looked exactly the same. It still had the same goofy banners hanging off the sides, and it still had the same old wooden benches – except that they were very worn out now. She got out of her car, and walked to the door. On her way to the door though, she couldn't help but stop when she thought she passed Booth's SUV. Yep, it was definitely his. Same interior, same stupid air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror, that smelled like pine trees.

She walked into the building, and with a couple of awkward glances from people passing, made her way towards Goodman's office.

"Hello," Temperance said sticking her head around the corner of his office door, after his secretary had told her to go right in.

"Well oh my god," Goodman said, clearly shocked to see her. "If it isn't Temperance Brennan!"

"Hi," Temperance said to him, giving him a warm smile. "How are you?"

"I'm very well, thank you for asking," he commented back. He stood there literally in awe that she was actually there. "To tell you the truth," he said, "I never expected to see you again."

"What!" Temperance exclaimed. "I told you I'd be back! I would never break a promise, and you know that."

"Well yes, I guess that is true," he said. "So what are you doing here Temperance?"

"Well I have some business to do while I'm here in DC, but I'm mainly here for vacation," she stated.

"You, vacation. Really?" He asked her. "I never would have thought!" he laughed.

"I know," Temperance chimed in. "Things really change don't they."

"Yes they certainly do," he added for good measure. "Well I'm sure you want to go visit your friends, so I won't keep you all to myself."

"Ok," Brennan added laughing. "I'll drop by again later, if it's all right with you," she asked him.

"Well I'd be honored," he said. "And Temperance," he added as she started out the door, "it really is great to see you again."

"It's good to see you too," she said back with a smile, and walked out.

Brennan headed to the area where her former lab used to be, and smiled and waved at all the people she knew, who still looked exactly the same. She even stopped to talk to some of them, congratulating them on a new baby, or an exciting new adventure in life. She loved these people. This had been her home for so long… it still felt like her home. She was so at peace here.

As she approached her old office, she could see a group of about seven or eight people sitting together, laughing and talking, including Angela, Hodgins, Zach, and Booth. She wasn't sure she wanted to interrupt, but then decided that they might be talking for a while, so she might as well just go in now. With every step closer she took, the butterflies in her stomach seemed to triple. Why was she so nervous? She knew these people, well most of them anyway. And she loved these people, and they loved her, well, some of them loved her, she wasn't to sure about others. She appeared at the door and gave a small tap.

"Knock, knock," she said while placing her hand on the doorframe.

"AHHHHHH!" screamed Angela out of pure excitement. "Temperance!" she screamed as well. The two sort of ran/stumbled towards each other and were locked in a tight embrace immediately.

It felt so good to finally be hugging her best friend again, was all Temperance could think at the moment. Hell, it felt good to even SEE her again! She was so excited, she couldn't even speak when Zach and Hodgins came right up to her as well, and immediately flooded her with questions about how she was, how her work was, and had she dealt with any good set of bones lately, because the ones they had worked with had been "shit" according to Jack.

When the hugging was over, Angela linked arms with her friend and started to introduce Brennan to everyone around the room.

"Ok, so Bren, this is Celia," Angela explained, pointing to the blond haired girl sitting on the couch. "She's a grad student, who's doing an internship here. We love her," Angela added, making the girl laugh a little. Temperance shook hands with her, and started to say something to her, but was quickly jerked the other way by Angela, who was already ready to move on to the next person in the room.

She was introduced to Brad, John, Julie, and Frankie, who was the new head of the Forensic Anthropology team. Temperance sized up the woman who had taken her position when she left, and settled on the feeling that she was a very good lady.

"And of course, you know Booth," Angela added pointing towards Booth, not really realizing what was going through both of their heads at that moment.

"Hello Seeley," Temperance said almost shyly, but with an air of confidence in her voice, trying to mask the real pain she felt of seeing him again. It made so many emotions come back that she hadn't felt since the last time she had seen him.

"Hello Temperance," Booth said back to her coolly, trying to keep calm, even though the second he saw her, his resting heart rate shot from about 70 to 120. Those were the only words they exchanged in the office, in the presence of the others, for they were both afraid of what might come out of their mouths if they were to say anything else.

About twenty minutes into the conversation, Booth announced that he had to get going, but that he'd be back later on in the day. Temperance reacted quickly and told Angela that she'd be back in a minute, because she had to go to the bathroom.

Running down the stairs after him, calling his name she said "Booth, wait up. Please Booth, I just want to talk to you."

"Yes Temperance, may I be of service to you," he said sarcastically, turning around.

"You don't have to be so rude, Booth," she shot back. "I just want to talk."

"Ok, Temperance what do you need, because I really do have to go."

"I just want to know how you are," she said to him, feeling sad about the way he was treating her. "I haven't seen you in two years, is it so wrong for me to want to talk to you?"

"Look I'm sorry, I just don't really have time right now," Booth said, all the sudden glancing down at her left hand, which appeared to have a sizeable ring on it. Temperance noticed where he was looking, and quickly put her hand behind her back. She cursed herself mentally for not taking it off like she had planned to. She didn't want this trip to be about her getting engaged, she wanted it to be about visiting old friends.

"Well then can we talk some other time?" she asked him.

"I don't know Bones," he said. "I'm busy tonight, but I'll see if I can do something tomorrow."

"Ok thanks," she said starting to smile a bit.

"I'm not promising anything," he added again.

"I know, but a maybe is good enough right now," she told him.

* * *

Later on that night, Temperance lay on her bed reading a book. The phone in her hotel room started to ring, and she picked it up on the 4th ring.

"Hello?" she stated.

"Hey Bones!" Booth half yelled.

"Booth?" Temperance asked back, wondering why he was yelling.

"Yeah, it's me," he said back. "Listen some things changed, and I'm free tonight. I'm at Wong Fu's if you want to stop by," he said waiting for a reply.

"I'll be there in 30 minutes," she said back, feeling like she herself was starting to scream into the phone.

"Ok," was all Booth said before he hung up.

"Ok," Temperance said into the dead phone line. She quickly took a shower, because she thought she looked horrible. She put on a plain blue t-shirt and a pair of shorts, because it was stifling hot outside. She pulled her wet hair up into a ponytail on her head, quickly applied some make up, and was out the door in 20 minutes, on her way to the eatery.

Upon arriving, she scanned the restaurant, but saw no sign of Booth.

"Hey," he said walking up behind her.

"Hey," she smiled back at him. He put his hand on the small of her back, and led her to the table that he had already acquired. He had ordered her a beer, and she greatly accepted it, thinking that alcohol might take the edge off her nerves.

"So, why did you want to talk to me so badly," Booth asked her quizzically.

"I don't know," she sort of mumbled. "It's just been awhile, that's all."

"Yeah," Booth added, not wanting to get into anything to serious. "So how is work, is it fun in California?"

"Booth," she said seriously.

"What, I can't ask about work now? I thought we were friends Bones? Does all the change now that you live in California?" he asked. The alcohol that he had consumed before she got there was obviously starting to affect him.

"Look Booth, I really think we need to talk about what happened before I left," she said.

"What?" he said back to her. "I don't remember anything happening," he added. "Oh, other than us having sex, and then you deciding to leave without telling me. But that was not big deal," he said shrugging it off.

"What do you mean, I decided to leave without telling you?" she asked him. "I tried to talk about it, but you didn't want to hear what I had to say," she shot back defensively.

"Look Bones," he said obviously buzzed, "I don't want to fight with you, OK. I have a massive head ache right now."

"Well then why the hell did you invite me here?" she asked him. "You knew we would just get into it."

"Well if I recall, you wanted to talk to me, so…"

"Ok, well since you obviously don't want to talk, I think I'll just go," she spat back at him.

"Fine," he said angrily, starting to get up, but causing great commotion when he spilled his drink all over her.

"Listen," the bar manager said coming over to them, "Ma'am, I think you should take your boyfriend home now."

"He's not my boy…" she started to say, but was interrupted by Booth saying, "I'll go home when I want to go home, OK!"

"Ok, Booth, lets go," she said walking behind him, and pushing him towards the door. Luckily for her, he didn't put up any resistance. When she got him in her car, she started to drive towards his apartment, but he stopped her, saying, "I don't live there anymore."

He told her the way to his new house, which he had purchased about a year ago. On the way, she saw a coffee stand, and decided to stop and get some for the both of them, hoping that it would at least start to help him cope with the major hang over she was sure he was going to have.

When she pulled up into his drive way, she thought about just letting him get out and leaving him there alone, but then deciding against it, knowing that if she were in the same situation, she would want someone there.

She unlocked his door after trying to bribe the keys out of him for two damn minutes. She opened the door and flicked on the light switch, to reveal the living room, mainly clean, but with a few action figures lying on the floor, which she assumed were Parker's. She grabbed his arm and led him to the couch were he flopped down and immediately started groaning about how much his head hurt. She looked in his bathroom, and found him some Advil, and a glass of water. He gratefully accepted them.

She sat down across from him on a chair, not knowing what to do now. There were so many things running through her head, so many things that she wanted to say to him. There was even a thought running through her head that she wanted to run up to him and start hitting him, telling him how crazy he was driving her. But she just sat there. All night long, even when he passed out, and was sleeping for eight hours, she just sat there. Of course she dozed a little bit too, but mostly she just sat looking at him, thinking. Thinking about how much she cared about him, about how much she hated him. About how much that one night had meant to her, about how she'd give anything to take that night back, because it had caused so much damage. She didn't know if she'd ever thought this much in her life.

When he awoke around 10:00 the next morning, there she was, sitting there. She looked like shit. She had big circles under her eyes, and he could tell that she even had been crying a little bit. But she didn't look like she had moved at all in the past twelve hours.

"Uhh," Booth said, kind of groaning and stretching at the same time. He fully did not expect to see her there when he woke up. "Bones, what are you still doing here," he asked her, rubbing his eyes.

"I didn't want to leave," she said. "In case you needed something," she added.

"You shouldn't have stayed," he told her. "You didn't need to stay," he tried to put more nicely, realizing he sounded like a jerk.

"It's OK," she said. "Besides, I drove you home, so your car isn't here," she commented. "I'll drive you back to get it when you're ready."

"Thanks," he added, not looking directly at her. He had probably made such an ass of himself last night. Man, why couldn't he just act normal around her? Probably because the shock of seeing her was still dawning on him.

"I'll make something for breakfast, if you're hungry," he told her, looking into her sad eyes.

"Booth, why didn't you write me back?" she asked.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note -** Hey guys, first of all, I just want to say sorry that it took me so long to update. FanFiction hasn't been working for me for some reason, so I finally got onto a different computer, and it worked. Hopefully I won't have this problem again! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! You guys rock! Sorry this chapter is so short... the next one will be longer, I promise!I hope you like this one!

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"What?" Booth asked, obviously confused by this random question she was shooting out at him.

"Why didn't you write me?" she asked him again. The bewildered look continued to spread across his features.

"Over these past two years," she began, "I've written you four letters, and they all went unanswered. I want to know why," she added, with a harsh, but sad tone.

Immediately, Booth looked away, and stood up. He started pacing around the room, trying to come up with a good answer to tell her. He knew the reason why he had never answered any of her letters. He just didn't know if he wanted her to know the reason.

"I don't know Bones," he started saying. "It's just, when you left, everything fell apart between us. I mean, I THOUGHT we had something going on here," he said gesturing with his hands between the two, "but then like the second you moved out there, all I hear from Angela is about how you've found this great guy, and how you two are the cutest things she's ever seen. I just didn't think you'd want to hear what I had to say."

"Booth, I wrote you those letters for a reason," she stated. "I know that things aren't the best between us, but you're my friend, and I just wanted to make sure that things were going OK for you," she added.

"Yeah, well," Booth said sighing, and turning around to go into the bathroom.

Temperance really didn't know what to do at this point. She cared about Booth so much, he was one of the only friends she had that meant a great deal to her. And now… things were just so screwed up. She stood up and paced the room, waiting for Booth to come out of the bathroom. She just wanted to leave. She wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep. She'd been at Booth's house all night long, and she didn't think she could stay here any longer. She knew that if she did stay, her and Booth would just end up fighting, and she definitely wasn't up for any fighting at all. When Booth exited the restroom, she asked him if he was ready to go get his car, and somewhat reluctantly, he agreed. He changed his clothes, while Temperance used the bathroom, and they were soon out the door, headed back to the bar to retrieve Booth's vehicle.

The ride to the bar was completely silent, other than Booth tapping the armrest with his hand consistently, and Brennan asking him to please stop. He did with a roll of his eyes. When they arrived, Booth said his thanks for the night, and Temperance quickly drove away after offering a welcome to him.

Booth shook his head, watching her drive down the street. Man, he had missed her so much these past two years. Even though he had a girlfriend, he knew that things weren't working out. All she cared about was her job, and he was pretty sure that she had cheated on him before with one of her co-workers. Seeing Dr. Brennan again was really starting to open up his eyes. He realized that maybe he should stop being such a wimp, and just go for it. Maybe if he tried to approach her about dating… or maybe even just one casual night out, no drinking, he thought now, with a laugh. He knew he wouldn't though. He knew he would chicken out. He just had the thought that if he did go for it, she would turn him down, and he would be so embarrassed. He got into his SUV, and drove back towards his home, pondering the idea of what it would be like to date Temperance Brennan.

Temperance, on the other hand, was so glad to be getting away from Booth after last night. She drove back to her hotel with the radio on loudly, trying to keep herself awake. She was completely exhausted, but she knew that she had to leave later on that night to go have dinner with one of the directors she was supposed to be meeting.

When she arrived at the hotel, she dropped down onto her bed, and was out within five minutes of her head hitting the pillow.

When she awoke, she realized that she only had about an hour to get ready for her dinner date. She quickly took a shower, and put on a dress that she thought was nice enough for the occasion. She didn't want to overdo it, but she didn't want to look like a slob either.

Finding where she had placed her keys on the way in, turned out to be a struggle for her, and she ended up being about ten minutes late to the dinner.

"I'm so sorry," Temperance told the man, Ted, sitting in front of her. "I'm usually on time, I promise," she said with a laugh. "It's just been a crazy day, I totally lost track of time."

"That's quite fine," the cheery old man said. He was just glad that she had agreed to meet with him at all.

"So, I'd like to hear your ideas about the movie," Temperance began, taking a sip of her wine.

The man began to go into a long rant of his prospects of how the movie, based on her book, might turn out. He talked about costs, production, casting, directing, editing, producing - the whole package. Temperance was with him for about the first ten minutes, but then she started to let her mind wander. Why was it, she wondered, that her mind immediately drifted to thoughts about Booth. She thought about last night, and about how when she had confronted him about the letters, she got the sense that he wasn't really telling her the whole truth about why he didn't answer her. While Ted was talking, and Brennan was tuning him out, she all the sudden, got the feeling that someone was staring at her. She looked around, and didn't see anybody that she knew. She passed the feeling off as just a weird coincidence.

About five minutes later, she got the feeling again, and when she glanced up, she was beyond shocked to see Booth looking at her, about 20 yards to the right, at a table, with a blond woman, although she could only see the back of her head. She made a small sound, and Ted asked her if she was all right. After giving him an apology, she excused herself to go to the bathroom, passing Booth's table on the way, and glancing briefly at him, as if saying 'can I talk to you for a minute?'.

When she was about two feet beyond his table, she heard him also excuse himself, and she could feel his presence behind her, following her lead to the restroom area.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, turning around to face him.

"This is a public restaurant Bones," he started to say, but she cut him off.

"Is that your girlfriend?" she questioned him, with an almost pissed off look on her face.

"Yeah," Booth replied back. "I'm breaking up with her tonight."

"Why," she started to ask him before he cut her off. He grabbed the back of her neck, and immediately pulled her to him, kissing her with all the passion that he had.

When he released her from his grip, he smiled at the shock registering on her face.

"That's why," he said. "Have a good night Temperance," he commented, and walked back to his table to complete his evening.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note - **Ok guys, well life seems to be getting busier for me, so I expect that now you will probably be getting one update a week. SORRY! I expected to have a lot more time than this, but I still really want to keep writing this story so I think one chapter a week will be good! Anywho... I'm leaving for vacation on Sunday (7/2) and I won't be back until next Monday (7/10) so I probably won't be updating until then either. Ok, and also, I just want to say that you can think ok this story as a roller coaster. It goes up and down a lot with the good and bad. So if it's good (like in this chapter) it probably won't stay that way! But it'll get better again! Thanks for the reviews!

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Temperance stood there for at least 5 minutes, in complete shock, before she realized that the director was still sitting at their table, probably getting a little pissed off at the fact that she wasn't returning from her "bathroom" break.

She had to walk past Booth's table as she returned to hers, and as she did, it was like she could almost feel the tension coming up onto her. Why had he done that, she wondered to herself. Now, she was never going to be able to look at him the same. They would definitely have to talk about this. Maybe she would go over to his house later that night… she thought to herself.

Booth, on the other hand, was smiling like a fool to this woman sitting across from him, and she had no idea what was about to hit her. Booth licked his lips, the taste of Temperance still there. He nodded politely when his date said something, but he wasn't really listening. He couldn't get the kiss out of his head. He hadn't expected to do it at all… she was just there… it was one of those 'in the moment' things.

He knew that he was probably going to get his ass whooped the next time he saw her, but he didn't really care. It was worth that one kiss.

"So I'll call you when we get more information about the movie," the director was saying as he stood up.

"Uh, yeah," Temperance agreed with him, although she really didn't know what he had just said.

They shook hands, and walked their separate ways as soon as they were out the door. Temperance headed for her car, but decided that she needed a little fresh air to ease her mind. She dropped her purse in her car, and making sure she had her keys, began to walk slowly down the street.

All she could focus on was the fact that Booth had just kissed her. She walked around for about 20 minutes, thinking of the possibilities that this had on their relationship.

One, it could completely wreck it, or two, it could be very good. She wasn't sure which one was going to play out at the moment.

When she got back into her car, she pulled out her cell phone and immediately dialed Booth's number. He answered on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Booth, it's Temperance," she said kind of shyly.

"I know," he said starting to grin.

"Where are you?" she asked him nonchalantly.

"I'm at my house," he told her, already knowing the reason for this particular phone call.

"Can I stop by for a minute," she commented. "I think we should talk about, you know… tonight."

"Yeah, sure. Drop by," Booth said into the phone, trying to sound as calm as he could. He hadn't expected her to want to stop by tonight!

"Ok, I'll be there in a few," she said before hanging up the phone.

She headed over towards Booth's house, literally shaking, because she was so nervous as to what he was going to say. She was engaged, god dammit. She could NOT be having any feelings what so ever for another man. No.

She didn't know why she found herself checking out her appearance in the mirror the second she pulled up into his driveway. It was Booth. But oh man, she wanted to look good.

She got out of her car, but before she was even able to knock on the door, Booth had pulled it open, and was standing there smiling at her.

She laughed at the look on his face, he looked like a scared puppy. Much like the way she felt!

"Hi," she began.

"Hey," Booth said to her looking around as if he was expecting someone else. "Come on in."

"Thanks," she said as she brushed by him in a hurry.

She sat down on his couch, and a minute later, he was sitting across from her on the chair.

"Ok, so obviously," Temperance began, "we need to get rid of the elephant in the room."

"Yeah, look," Booth said scratching his head, "I shouldn't have done that earlier. I'm sorry."

"Why did you?" she asked him, truly wanting to know the reasoning behind the kiss.

"I don't know," he said shaking his head. "I just did what I felt."

"I don't know what you mean," Temperance said back to him.

"Well I can't really explain it Bones," he said.

"Why not?" she started questioning him.

"Because!" he half shouted at her. "There's nothing to explain! I wanted to kiss you, so I did!"

"Why did you want to kiss me?" she asked, seemingly confused by what he was saying to her.

"You want to know why, Bones," he started to say, "I did it because I want you. I WANT YOU!" he said louder. "I always have. And I know that you have some guy in your life, OK. Believe me, I hear it from Angela all the time, but I don't really care. Because I just want to be with you," Booth said, starting to get upset, but sounding defeated.

Temperance, sitting on the couch, still shocked and utterly confused, could think of nothing else to do, than what she did next.

She got up, walked over to him, and kissed him.

It was a slow and sensual kiss. Booth eventually worked his tongue into the mix, and hers made its way in there too.

Something that had started out slow, soon turned to raging passion and fire. Before either of them knew what was going on, shirts were being shed onto the floor, and pants were being unbuttoned and pulled off. They took their activity to the bedroom, and were soon panting from lack of oxygen and pure physical exhaustion.

Temperance lay there, her chest heaving up and down. What the hell had just happened? Did she really just have sex with Booth?

Booth rolled over closer to her, and immediately started kissing her neck. His hands roamed her body, and she moaned in pleasure at the way he was making her feel. She guided his head towards her mouth, and soon there tongues were going at it again. She could feel him lingering above her, and all she could think about was how good – how right this all felt.

The thought never occurred to her that this might be wrong – but then again, she was too caught up in the sex to really think coherently about anything.

So they did it again – many times over actually. And when she woke up in the morning, she wasn't surprised to feel giddy when she felt his arm draped lazily over her hips. She knew that what had happened, would definitely have some serious consequences. She would be in trouble when she got back home. She knew she needed to tell Chad, but she was afraid of what would happen. She really did care about him.

And although she cared about him, she couldn't get over the fact that she seemed to care even more… about Booth. He wasn't her fiancé! Hell, two days ago he had been a total jerk to her. But then again, she assumed it was partly her fault. She didn't know what to think at the moment.

Booth started to stir about twenty minutes later. He opened his eyes to see her looking at him, and a big smile arose on his face.

"Morning," he said sleepily.

"Morning," she said back to him, brushing the hair out of her face. She continued to just look at him, unsure of what to do next.

"Are you OK?" he asked while rubbing her shoulder. He noticed that she seemed to look kind of lost, but she had a lustful look in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she started. "This whole thing," she said gesturing between the two of them," is just kind of shocking. I really wasn't expecting it.

"Is it a good shock, or a bad shock?" Booth asked her with a small smile on his face.

"It's definitely a good shock," she said back with a smile, and leaned in to give him a small kiss on the lips. He gratefully accepted it.

They laid in bed talking for another few minutes, and then both decided that they should probably get up and get their day going. Since it was the weekend, they didn't really have anything planned, but they figured that they could go out to breakfast together, it would give them a better chance to talk about things.

Neither made a move to get up. They were both consciously aware they were naked, and the idea kind of made them nervous. After about two minutes, Booth made the first move to get up, but Temperance grabbed his arm pulling him back down.

"Is this weird to you?" she asked him, starting to laugh.

"It's a little uncomfortable," he said laughing along with her.

After that, they both decided that they were mature adults, and that they obviously had both seen a naked person of the opposite gender before, so what did it really matter.

Besides Temperance had added, "They'd just had sex, so he had seen all there was to see."

While Temperance was searching around his apartment for her discarded clothing, Booth jumped in the shower. When he came out, she appeared to be ready to go eat, so he threw on a t-shirt and pants. He walked down the hall, gave her a kiss, grabbed his keys, and they were out the door.

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